Mari - diary

The World Map of Happiness

This is the movie UDON (Japanese noodle) official site. The story is about a guy who had the dream to go to the US and be a very successful man. He didn't make it and returned to his home town, Sanuki, which is well-known for UDON. He starts to think about UDON and how great it is and decides to start a business there! Please check the trailer out on the second button. It makes me hungry, and I am very proud of Japanese food.

Adrian G. White of University of Leicester related "The World Map of Happiness" and here's the result:

1.Denmark
2.Switzerland
3.Austria
4.Iceland
5.Bahamas
6. Finland
7. Sweden
8. Bhutan
9. Brunei
10. Canada
23. US, 41. UK

I don't know why, and who they make this result. Asian countries rank in very lower.
68.Taiwan
82.China
90.Japan
102.South Korea
236.India

Family ties, conventional value, male chauvinism, male-dominated society, those factors could be related to the results. What do you think?   A few days ago, we had this news "For the first time in six years, the life span has decreased for men but women are still on top of the world. They said there was a change in world ranking due to the special factor (i.e. influenza), and maybe the rate of suicide isn't studied either. Basically the long-term trend of a Japanese person's average life span has not changed. On the other hand, some said it will stop and get shorter because of changing food. What about stress? I love this country, and I am very happy being Japanese. But...I *really* do look forward to one day living outside of Japan. Apparently I'm living in the 90th ranked Happiness in the world...

NRI classifies 5 types of otaku group

Ha. Vienna boys choir had a one day Tokyo bus tour and visited Akihabara to look for Otaku.

By the way, Otaku page of wiki has changed. Some good links like this and this were added and some good links were deleted. My site was linked before, but they were deleted. It's okay because even a definition of Otaku is getting change, wiki and link will be changed too. This is NRI's report about Otaku　NRI classifies 5 types of otaku group.... Very interesting.  I picked the doll otaku video a few days ago, appearently he will be "Leaving my own mark" type. This otaku guy "MAJIGIRE" (MAJI = serious, KIRERU(Gire) = blaze up ) on TV show.*

related link
Otaku fashion has changed.

Bulk Mail Titles

We have spam everyday, I think you have spam everyday too. To this blog mail address, I get English spam everyday. Of course I get the mail from Nigeria which gets the Literature award of Ig noble prize. (The Internet entrepreneurs of Nigeria, for creating and then using e-mail to distribute a bold series of short stories, thus introducing millions of readers to a cast of rich characters.) And other titles are "Man's Evolution", "Delivery Status Notification", "HELLO", "See Attachment", "Save your Payment with a great Refinancing!" "*Need Loan? All credit accepted" etc. But I think Spam titles are similar and not varied. What do you think?

To my yahoo Japan mail, I get mainly Japanese spam. Then I can say those titles are varied, funny, and strange. Actually I have to open the mail because I could not suppose what was that. (phrasing is confusing) There are some sites which gathers funny bulk mail titles. Here are some samples.

-One year has passed after my husband was eaten by a giant ant-eater.
-How to preserve fresh lettuce.
-Someone left a bunch of roses in front of our shop.
-Wow! you left the a comment to me.
-Could you meet me soon?
-The bathroom in the book store.
-Is this okay for you?

I am using bulk filter, I don't see them usually. But when I check the bulk folder then if I found the title "One year has passed after my husband was eaten by a giant ant-eater". How can I resist opening the mail.

sexual harassment of a female worker

はげしくネタがない!!! (=violently there is nothing I can pick and tell.  Strange English? he he he )

Do you think this is fake?

Kewpie doll is the best costume player in Japan.　Don't you think this is cute as a souvenir? It is easy to find this type of costume play Kewpie in variety shops in Japan, I don't know if this is okay or against the copyright law. I like Mario one.

By the way, here is today's stupid news.  The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday ordered a man working at the health ministry's local office in Tokyo and the state to pay a total of 550,000 yen. It's compensation over the defendant's sexual harassment of a female worker by forcing her to pluck his "beard". According to the ruling, the man repeatedly asked the woman to pluck his growing beard. Of course she refused it and she said he should do it himself, but the man forced her to pluck his beard, the ruling said. ...orz.

Parking is hard

When I was working as an assistant director for entertainment documentary TV show, we made a video titled "How to drive". We had many experiments about driving techniques and road safety. In Ibaraki, there is the safety driving training center which has top level facilities like a skid course, wet course for hydroplaning, driving simulation, etc. Usually police, riot police, those people learn how to drive in regular cases and urgency cases. For the TV sow, I had drive as a representative of a "poor driver"...orz. But the most embarrassing part was just "parking". In Japan, most people back into a parking space like this. I have never succeed to park on the first attempt. So we wore this type of helmet and checked which point people watch during parking. Then we realized I looked at off the beam. The trainer said the point of parking was view point.

By the way, like I wrote before, parking spaces are not enough in Tokyo area. I should master "parking", I know. Today I found some great parking videos. I wish I would have such great skill like this, this, and this.

Talking about driving skill, I remember TV ads of Isuzu Gemini.(Isuzu does not produce passenger cars anymore) On Youtube, I could find a long version. Please check this out, it is great video.*

The best cake shop

laugh.....

Kei Kurusu is a famous young food writer, but I've read she started to try out the food at various restaurants and shops since she was 15 years old. She has many fans because people think she has certain taste and tongue. She has published the books, "the king of gourmet", "the king of sweet" and "the kind of bread". Then she wrote her favorites in the book. We can check the detail of sweet and bread rankings on the web. In those type of rankings, the famous cake shop Mont St. Clair in Jiyugaoka, or Maison Kayser which was the best bakery in 2005 are ranked in usually. But she did not pick them at all. Her ranking was very unique, she doesn't care of name recognition or trend. Interesting, I want to try her picks.

The best Patisserie is Sourire. She picked the small patisserie which doesn't even have it's own website. As long as I checked some blogs, it looks very nice. Especially I want to try this thin fig cake. No.2 is Blue Ribbon. I must say the shop looks a little bit old fashioned and cakes are very reasonable. Then No.3 is patisserie Sadaharu Aoki Paris. He is Japanese pastry chef. but his shops are only in Paris. So we can buy a few types of cakes.

The best chocolate that she choose is Jean-Paul Hevin. In Tokyo, there are shops in Isetan and Omote Sando Hills.　But in the world ranking. The best chocolate is Arnaud　Larher that has no shop in Tokyo. Okay maybe when I go to Paris in the future.

Talking to Wagashi, we think mecca of Wagashi would be Kyoto. But her best shop is Ikkoan in Myogadani Tokyo. Then No.2 is Hosen in Kyoto. The best wagashi is chestnut Yokan of Ikkoan. No.2 is Tsubaki mochi of Ikkoan again. Actually every wagashi in this page looks so delicious. I won't get bored to watch them.

As a bread fan, I am sad for the bread ranking, my favorite shop Levein was not ranked. No.1 is recette, recette is the on-line bakery shop and they won't sell us without any letter of introduction!! ha?? Then one loaf of bread cost 3500yen! Crazy shop...I don't need it maybe just a one bite. Then No.2, No.3, No.4 are all in Osaka area. No.5 is finally Pointage in Azabu Jyuban Tokyo.

She made Very interesting ranking, only watching each photos of ranking makes me happy. Please check them out!*

Some TV shows

Let me know how to open the door. I found all the item but I can't find how to use the hook and mirror.

Kyushu has heavy rainfall that triggered maximum alert, Usually the rainy season should be over in Tokyo already, but we have still rain. I am getting mold. I got a rush grass (igusa in Japanese) rug on an online shop. I hope I can take a nap on the rug on a summer evening breeze.

For some reason I had to stay at home last weekend, but I enjoyed youtube and I wasn't bored at all. Since I can't find any good topics today, I will pick some.  This is "Pusuma" (2,3,4,5) Tsuyoshi of Smap (Johnny's idle group) appears and this time "hyde" 　appears as guests!!  It's funny and it has English subtitle so it will be understandable.  This is the show of Japanese magician Dr. Leon's magic with Arashi, 1., 2. Arashi is one of Nino (a boy wearing hat) is will appear on Clint Eastwood's new movie "Red Sun, Black Sand".   

I must say these videos are wierd. This is real doll lover (he says SHE is wife and daughters!  okay if you say so.) and this is Akiba kei Otaku who is living with big doll. He said "She cost 500,000yen"...... I have nothing to say.  Then this is not a Japanese one, but I was pretty shocked to watch this show, maybe it's a video of Docmentary Channel!?　Thank you youtube, I can kill my time without DVD now. *

A new animation in 2007

The new animation movie Paprika looks nice.  Here is the trailer, it will be released in 2007. The original story is a SF novel of Yasutaka Tsutsui. I like him. My favorite one is "Zanzo ni kuchibeni wo" (Lipstick for the After Image) in which the 50 Japanese kana syllables disappear one by one as the story advances; they're not in the story, he doesn't use the kana in the book either.

I found this funny music video "Madan" of singer T.M.revolution. All performer's dialogue are the lyric of Madan. So it might be said a pantomime,  we can understand the story with ther performance easily.  Pleae check it, it's funny.  In the end the message on the sweater is "To my dad".  By the way, If you are Gundam fan, you may know his "Ignited" which is the theme of Gundam seed. He is the ex husband of PUFFY Yumi.

"mame" means tiny

Humid!!! I can't wait for end of the rainy season. I heard this summer will be hot! I don't like A/C, but maybe I will use it this summer. I found this cute paper fan. You buy fan frame and put four or five silk worm, then wait for a few days.

In Japan, we have an image "Bonsai is the elder peopel's hobby". Or he approachs Bonsai as miniascape. Look at this. ha ha ha so cute they are! ( that is the same old scene of long-runing show). But as Bonsai they are perverted taste? So How about this. They are cute, cool and gorgeous in less than three inches!. They call them "Mame Bonsai". Mame means "beans" in Japanese and we attach "mame" description to miniature size stuff. For example, Mame bon (miniature book), Mame shiba(miniature shiba dog), Mame chishiki (a trivia), Mame denkyu (a midget lamp).

Why he is crying?

If you checked the youtube recently. you would see a Japanese guy is crying on a TV show. This file (removed quickly, so I am not sure you can see this) was viewed over 3 million times in the past a few days. Why he was crying? He is Koji Kato who was a member of Comdey duo "Gokuraku Tombo" (happy-go-lucky character ).  His partner Keiichi Yamamoto has been questioned over raping of a 17-year-old girl.  Gokuraku Tombo was a popular combi that appeared on hit program "mechaike"  (I like this part ("Kazutori dan") and other some TV shows, but since Yamamoto was fired yesterday. The duo broke up and Kato will continue his career by himself. Before this incident, Kato appeared on TV dramas or TV shows by himself, it won't be difficult for him. But since they have been together for 16 years, Kato was crying and apologizing to people with such big crying.

On the Internet, it became a crazy fuss. I really don't have any interests for it, but I had to laugh when reading "Hyde is 156cm" attack on page of Yamamoto page of wikipedia. They wrote "Hyde is 156cm" on Yamamoto wiki and Kato wiki (actually "Hyde is 153cm" attacked Zidane page before too), and finally those two seems to be deleted from the wiki....ha ha ha orz...Sorry silly topic, but I suppose foreign people don't know the reason why the crying movie was so big.  Now some funny movies related to this issue are up on youtube.  for example this is an English one